CELTIC and Rangers will face one another in a semi-final for the third season in a row after they were drawn together in the last four of the Betfred League Cup.
Aberdeen’s 1-0 win over St Johnstone last night, courtesy of a 90th-minute winner from Adam Rooney, means the Pittodrie side will face Championship outfit Morton in a match which will probably be taken away from Hampden Park.
The ties will take place over the weekend of October 22 and 23, with the Old Firm game most likely to be moved to the Sunday.
Read more: Brendan Rodgers: Scrutiny of referees' decisions is far greater in Celtic games
Derek McInnes, the Aberdeen manager, admitted he was happy that he would be taking on Morton, the club he began his career at, but was angry this quarter-final tie had been moved to a Thursday, 48 hours after Rangers played.
He said: “We need a big effort from everyone for this one on Sunday. It’s ridiculous that Rangers have 48 hours extra of recovery before a league game when there doesn’t need to be.
“Why our game was moved to the Thursday, I don’t get. But it is what it is – and we’ll be ready from them come Sunday.”
Read more: Brendan Rodgers: Scrutiny of referees' decisions is far greater in Celtic games
A loud cheer came from the Aberdeen players’ lounge when the draw was made but McInnes warned against anyone believing his team were all-but in the final even if it was the semi-final he wanted..
He said: “When you have the Old Firm in the draw with a team from the Championship, we probably all want the Championship team – and Morton probably wanted us. But it’s my club, really. Some of my fondest memories in the game were there.
“I’m so pleased they’ve made the semi-finals. A lot of my friends are Morton supporters and I’m delighted to be up against them – and we know how tough it will be. You have seen before that any team in a semi-final can win.”
There was an argument in the tunnel after the match; however St Jonhstone manager Tommy Wright played down the incident.
Wright said: “Aberdeen have a right to celebrate but they left the dressing room door open and the music was deafening. Our players were a bit upset and one of them shut the door. But there was nothing in it.”
Read more: Brendan Rodgers: Scrutiny of referees' decisions is far greater in Celtic games
Wright felt his team were unfortunate not take the game into extra-time.
He said: “I’m obviously disappointed. When you get into the last minute of normal time, we thought we’d done enough to take it to extra time.
“We just couldn’t get that goal. There was nothing in the game. Both teams cancelled each other out. Aberdeen had better possession, which you’d expect from the home team and with the quality players they’ve got. It looked like one goal would decide it and unfortunately we didn’t get it.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel